MacCallum trial: Detective recalls his first suspicion

Thursday

Nov 21, 2013 at 10:20 AM

David Smith dsmith@siskiyoudaily.com

The prosecution continued its timeline of discovery in the murder trial against Patricia MacCallum Wednesday, establishing what was found at an Applegate campground along with Michael Christopher MacCallum’s body on Nov. 19, 2012.In addition to the discussion of what evidence was found at the scene of the killing and what items were reportedly left with Michael MacCallum, detective Bryan Scott of the Oregon State Police described to the court his transition from missing person investigation to the first suggestion that MacCallum had had something to do with her husband’s death.“Her first reaction was, ‘It couldn’t be him,’” Scott testified, explaining that MacCallum said her husband knew self defense techniques learned in his Tae Kwon Do training. Over the course of the prosecution’s case, multiple witnesses have testified that MacCallum had told them she and her half-sister Amber Lubbers had left the Applegate campground the night of Nov. 16, and when they returned the next morning to take Michael home, there was nothing at the campsite. Scott said that officers had found tent stakes and poles scattered about the campground on Nov. 19, so MacCallum telling him she had seen nothing triggered his suspicion. “The reason the question was important was that it went to the fact of whether she went back [Nov. 17] or not,” Scott said during the cross examination. “I believe there were a number of things she should have seen.”Defense attorney William Duncan brought up the pre-dawn lighting conditions at the time MacCallum said she returned to the campground and asked Detective Scott if there were times he failed to see objects for which he was not searching, which Scott admitted was true.